Desperate Princesses
by takashi yuki
Summary: A take on the wildly popular show Desperate Housewives. The Sailor Scouts are now normal everyday housewives with families and the worries of every other human being. When Serena commits suicide everything for the girls that are still in her life, changes
1. Chapter 101 Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any of the original characters.

This season on Desperate Princesses: It's been almost twenty five years after the sailor scouts decided to give up their powers so that evil could not exist and do harm to the world they live in. Now the former warriors of earth have moved into the suburbs and are causing quite a stir among their neighbors.

October 08, 2008

A mother's kiss is something some of us learn to cherish till the end of time. It is a reminder of just how lucky we naturally are. Or a façade to make the family look like a neatly settled bunch. Perhaps the most common reception of a mother's kiss though is the one that comes every night before we go to bed and every day before we leave to our busy lives away from home and the ones we love. On this particular day, Rini Shields would give her mother one last kiss goodbye, never knowing until it was too late, that the kiss that says I love you without a spoken word, would be her last.

October 12, 2008

On this very calm and chilly day, the residents of Wisteria Lane – Juban District, Japan, the denizens of this beautiful suburban neighborhood walked out of their houses with a face of stern brilliant method and a black outfit. One of their beloved neighbors was being mourned. Rei and Chad Hino, A successful super model and a businessman would give their condolences to the Shields family with a set of gift cards. The two calmly entered their boldly red Ferrari and floored it five houses down the street.

Baking a warm set of arranged muffins for their very unfortunate friends, Ami and Greg Mizuno would wake the unwilling but perfectly behaving two children they had, prep them on funeral behavior and scoot them off to the sidewalk where they meet Mina and her daughter Anna. A single woman with the sophistication of a blow fish. Last but certainly not the most situated, was Lita, Her husband Jason, and their four children. A set of twin boys, another boy a year younger, and a tiny baby girl. Lita would however drag the twins through the street, a war she waged with almost great futility.

The four very different housewives would converge together at the door, family in lock step as they presented themselves to one of their best friend's husbands. Darien Shields. The newest widow on Wisteria Lane.

"Hello Ladies." He said with a welcoming face. His body would resist smiling but he could not help it. He took their gifts one by one. "Ami. Greg." He gave Ami a peck on the cheek and Greg a hug. They walked inside and Ami set her muffins off to the side.

"Mina. Anna." He hugged both at the same time and they walked in, placing a bottle of wine on the table.

"Lita and company." He chuckled slightly and let them in with a pat on the back. Lita turned and gave him a great hug before scooting off after the children.

"Rei. Hi." He kissed her on the cheek and hugged her. She slipped in, gliding across the room in red stilettos and a black cocktail dress with rhinestones fluttering about the blouse. Chad came up to Darien with a solemn face and smiled just slightly. He opened his arms and Darien received his condolences with grief.

"If you need any help or anything man. You just come knockin' or you call. You hear?"

"Of course. You're the first set of man hands I think about Chad." The two laughed.

Inside of the house, Rei and Mina stood together with wine glasses filled to the rim. They coaxed a look around at the neighborhood entourage and settled on a familiar face.

"Is that?" Mina started.

"It's Sammy."

"He looks great. How old is he now?" The two stared down the twenty something year old and finished off their glasses.

"I hear he's modeling for men's swimwear now. Andrew something is the line."

"No kidding Rei. Shouldn't you know this by now?"

"Mina. If I knew every name in the industry, that would mean I'm a college super model, not a natural super model. People don't love me for my brain okay?" Rei set her glass aside.

"Rei, if you knew any name in the industry your co-workers probably wouldn't be so inclined to push you off a five foot runway. Do you even have co-workers?"

"Of course. I have the world. The world is my co-worker."

"You really need to stop making things up." They turned around to the banter of a lecturing Ami Mizuno. Her blue hair glistened from the light through the window. She was waving one finger at a caterer and the other was busy fixing an arrangement of flowers.

"Oh Ami." Mina canted her head, "What is she doing here anyway? I thought she was too busy with her job to take a day off. Even for Serena."

"We all were a bit busy this week…every week." Rei added. "I wonder long it'll take for-

Rei stopped speaking when she heard a splash in the pool. The two walked to the window to see Lita's twin boys swimming around and having a jolly time. They laughed subtly and shook their heads. "You two have three seconds to get out of the pool right this instant!" Lita commanded though her voice was muffled through the glass. "That's it!" Rei and Mina watched Lita as she dove in after them and grabbed them in a whirl and pulled them into the shallow end. She held one of them up above the water with one hand by his wrist. "You two are in deep trouble." And she let him fall back into the water with a terrified look on his face. She dragged the two of them out of the backyard as Darien stepped outside to see her leaving in time. She knelt down, "You two get to your father and tell them you're in trouble."

"No!" One of them spat.

"If you don't, I'll make sure you go to bed early every night this week and wake up extra EXTRA early for school for no reason at all. Got it!?" She pushed them towards the front yard where their father would be waiting on the lawn somewhere. She turned to Darien, soaking wet. "I'm really sorry, but we're…we have to-

"I understand. If you and Jason want some food or some cake later on, Rini and I will stop by."

"That sounds wonderful Darien. Thank you." She went for a hug and stopped just short of grasping him in her arms. The two exchanged awkward looks before Darien waved Lita off to her house. He turned to the rest of the guests and smiled reassuringly.

In the den of the house, a large space reserved for events such as this, chairs were set up so that someone could make a short speech if they wanted to say something they had not during the burial. Sammy Tsukino would step up to the front of the room for a short written word he had prepared. Darien turned as a few neighbors grabbed his attention and turned him around.

"Hi everyone. It's nice to see all of Serena's friends socializing and gathering around for her. I'm sure she would have loved this. Her favorite times in the world were when she was with those she loved the most. I just want to say that I'm very grateful for her friends and her family. For Darien and their daughter Rini, wherever she is right now. Poor girl." Sammy looked down quickly, feeling Rini's pain. He could only empathize so much as he placed his stern eyes on those standing around in the room. "So I hope everyone understands me when I say when I find out why she killed herself and who was involved, I'm going to get even with you. You better hope to the moon that I don't." With a clenched fist he shook his head and wandered away from the eye of attention.

Darien shrugged as a slew of his neighbors looked at him daunted. An older woman, retired and experienced looking with a sack of extra pounds walked up to him and nodded, "A putz. That's what he is. By the way, you got any of those neat cookies with macadamia in the middle? I love those things."

"No Mrs. Haruna. You can get that at any Chinese food stand. Not here though. Don't you have a cat to tend to."

"Oh you know me and Toby. We have nothing to worry about when we leave each other for a short while. Please, be a dear and find me some Macadamia cookies." Darien shook his head and walked away.

In her room, she felt at home and free from all the worry. The unease that came with seeing your mother lying as still as a rock in a box that was barely big enough for her body to turn over in. Rini kept thinking, 'What if she's alive? What if she's still alive and she needs the extra space in that coffin to get out?' There was no alternative thought to ponder on except hope that there was still hope and at Rini's age, there was plenty of hope. It's her naivette that her father worried about which seemed to wither away with each passing second. She became less vulnerable every day and she fed into her hatred of the world around her. Suddenly she felt as if she were very alone.

"Even with Papa…" she began to cry, "I don't feel that same shining light I felt before when mama used to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay. So why should I talk to anyone about this…I don't need anything!" Rini wiped her face and gathered her things.

Later that night – Shield's Residents

The phone rang and Darien went to grab the closest device.

"Hello."

"Hello." There was a pause of silence. A very eerie few seconds hung in the air till Darien answered back.

"May I help you?"

"Yes. Do the Shields live here?"

"Yes. May I ask who's calling."

"No thank you." A click reverberated through the line and Darien knew whoever had called just hung up. He shivered.

"What a scary phone call. I wonder what they want." The door bell rang and Darien jumped suddenly. He walked to the front room and he looked through the peep hole. "Oh my goodness." He relieved the latch and opened the door to see Rini standing under the arms of Lita.

"I found this jumping out of her back window and leaping over the fence. Good thing I have a good view of the side of your house huh?"

"Rini what were you doing? Running away?" The girl refused to answer. She just took three steps inside, turned to nod and bow at Lita and took off to her room.

"Thank you so much. I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay. I understand. We're all really hurt over this." Lita paused and put her hand on the back of her hip. "When I lost my parents I was a lot younger than Rini. . . I don't remember it hurting as much but that was a long time ago. Other things are still a lot more familiar you know?"

"Tell me about it." Darien looked down. He had an epiphany suddenly. "Do you want to come in for some tea or something?" He held the door and Lita shook her head.

"The kids need to be put to bed. It's a two man job and Jason's only half a woman." Darien laughed, "Unless you want me to. Unless you need it I mean…I can spare the time." Lita put her hand on Darien's shoulder. "Don't be afraid to say you need something guy. You know we're all hurting but you were close to her."

"I know. I know. It's just that, I don't think after what happened, it's appropriate to have any of you so close to home." Darien looked even sadder.

"Darien. Of all the people who were there for you and Serena and Rini that time I was happy to help then. The others may not have been here, but I'm here. I've always been here. Just you know…things have changed."

"Like what?"

"Don't get offended please." Lita put her hands in the air. "I'm just saying, if Jason left me like Serena did I would need someone –

"I think you need to leave. It's too much right now. Too much to think about. I need to go and be with Rini before she tries to escape again."

"I … I understand. I'll be around." Lita turned and walked away, blowing a kiss off her two fingers and smiling back as she headed home. Darien closed the door and walked to Rini's room. It was closed. He knocked on the door and when he heard no response he opened it to see Rini laying on her side. He took up the spot right next to her, held her in his arms and squeezed tight.

"I miss her papa. Why would she do this to us?" She sobbed softly.

"Sometimes baby…my little princess. . . people can't handle the world they are given. And when it gets to be too much for them they make a decision."

"Why would she make this decision. Mama's so smart. She's so intelligent. Why would she leave us."

"Sometimes people don't know how to make decisions in times like this."

"What happened papa?"

"I don't know princess. I don't know and if I did I don't think I would feel any better." He kissed the back of his daughter's head and buried his head into the pillow. "I love you Rini. Don't forget okay?"

"Okay papa. I love you too." She sobbed quietly some more and fell asleep in her father's arms.

October 13, 2008, Monday Morning

Minako being the resourceful single mother that she was, objectively rummaged through her daughter's belongings while she was in the shower. Mina was looking for nothing in particular but if she happened to find something, like say, a bad grade that was hidden in her daughter's room somewhere, or pregnancy pills and she pleaded upon the moon that she did not find pregnancy pills, she would be able to ground her daughter from going to school so that she had someone to hang out with today. Unlike most mothers, Mina loved being with her daughter on Monday mornings. Like most mothers though, she had work to do and errands to run. So like most people, she would rather do them with a person she could spend quality time with instead of no one at all.

"FOUND IT!" Mina yanked a C+ paper from her daughter's filing cabinet.

"What are you doing?" A sixteen year old blonde spitting image of Mina had appeared behind her mother.

"Uh…I'm … WHAT'S THIS!?" Mina spun and shoved the English paper in her daughter's face.

"It's a quiz…why? Are you going to ground me from school again!?"

"Of course I am! You can't go around getting 'good enough' grades at school and expect me to let you do what you love to do every week day!" Mina flung her arms around as to distract her daughter from the fact that she was obviously finding reasons to ground her.

"Mom! You can't go grounding me from school just because I want to go. And the only reason I want to go is so that I can get into a good university. I don't want to be stuck here doing manual labor for the rest of my life."

"You won't dear. You really won't. As long as you go to community college at least."

"I'm not going to community college. I already told you."

"Aren't you supposed to be thinking about partying and boys at this age."

"I'm not like you mom. I was never like you. Stop trying to make me like you. I can come home later and help you with the laundry. Don't you have friends or something?" Anna began getting dressed, ignoring her mother in her path.

"I have friends! Of course I have friends!"

"Mother. Your forty. You don't have friends. You have drinking buddies. Forty year old women have drinking buddies."

" I do too have friends."

"Name one!"

"Lita! Lita is my friends." Mina crossed her arms.

"Uh-huh. You and Lita speak once a week and you live down the street from each other."

"So. We spoke yesterday, plus Wednesday at the park. That's twice! And she waved to me when I got the groceries from the car on Friday!"

"Mother," Anna said annoyed, "I told you she was flinging things at her kid."

"She knew I was there!"

"Mom! Come on! I have to go to class today! If I miss again, they're going to need a doctor's note."

"I can get one!"

"From who?"

"My old friend is in town. Ami. She's a doctor. I'll ask her for a favor."

"None of you have seen Ami in the last ten years and one of the few things you're going to say to her is that you need a favor before she leaves?" Anna pulled shoes out of her closet and slipped them on. She grabbed her book bag and headed down stairs.

"She's cool. We're all cool. Don't you want to be cool like your mother." Mina chased after Anna.

"No. I'm plenty cool."

"Oh no, you so not cool it not even funny."

"Mother! Knock the asian accent off."

"We are asian!"

"We're speaking in ENGLISH!" Anna opened the door and started walking towards the curb.

"Young lady if you –

Mina stopped suddenly and Anna knew something happened. She looked back and saw the look on her mothers face.

"Get to school."

"What?" Anna asked. She looked back towards whatever it was that Mina was staring at and noticed nothing.

"I said get to school." Mina walked back inside the house and dialed a single seven digit number as Anna jumped on the bus.

In a house where two successful career people meet every morning, the routine is always somewhat the same. The suit and the dress are pulled off the rack they were placed upon the night before. The cufflinks and the jewelry are put on to match the suit and the dress. And when the two come down stairs, they put on the coffee and the tea and have breakfast that is prepared by the housekeeper. When the breakfast is half eaten and the cell phones and bags are put into the sport cars, the morning routine is over and the work tradition begins.

Rei and Chad Hino separated that morning only to wish they could stay at work forever. But on this particular morning, Rei Hino would be kept from a place she loved by a long lost face she would rather not see again. It would begin with the ring of a cell phone.

"Hello."

"Rei! It's Mina!"

"What do you want Mina? I'm working." Rei said with her hair already whipping in the wind.

"Oh please. I'm watching you pull out of the drive way."

"I can be here to China in five seconds with this car. What's so important?"

"Did you see who just arrived? The white house a few homes down from yours." Mina sounded anxious.

"No. Who?" She looked over at a nice humble looking couple checking out the house for sale. "Those two kids?" Rei huffed, "Mina. Stop calling me for such trivial-

She slammed the breaks down and a screech could be heard the next city over. Rei stared down another sports car and its owner stepping out. Long legs and a not so modest dress suit that hugged the shape of this red headed woman. "Molly?"

"I KNEW IT!" Rei pulled away from the phone with a scared face. She shook her head and closed the device. Rei parked on the sidewalk, then stepped out of the car. The sultry model strutted across the asphalt and all eyes became victims to her hips. "Molly Stanton. How are you?"

The girl turned and smiled, placing her hands on her hips as she recognized the face. "I'm doing fine Rei Hino. You're looking good. . . for your age."

Rei stopped. "And you look….so what are you doing here?"

Molly shook her head giggling. "I'm showing these nice people a house in the neighborhood. I'm looking for 14431 Wisteria Lane.

"Why would you be looking for that house? That's Serena's house."

"I know. Darien called me. He wanted to sel- oh. I've said too much."

"What? He wants to sell the house? Where does he think he's going."

"Hey! MOLLY! MOLLY STANTON!" Mina was running down the street till she failed to lift her foot up enough to get it over a protruding slab of concrete. She lifted herself up with a smile.

"Oh. Mina. Yeah, he wants to sell the house. I'm selling the house. Please, let me sell the house."

"First of all Molly, you're at the wrong address. Second of all, didn't your license expire years ago?" Rei scorned.

"Silly Rei. I've been here almost half the month already. I've been shopping around for the perfect house. My associates here wanted to see my new home. I just showed it to them." Rei and Mina's jaws dropped. "Now if you will excuse me. I need to show them their new house."

"They didn't already buy the house did they? DID THEY!? Molly answer me, please."

"Rei Hino, your best friend just committed suicide. Do you really think it's appropriate to pine over a man that you never had a chance with. Aren't you married now? I mean come on. Only so many men fall for the pumps and nice rump. You actually have to have class too." Mina and Rei froze. They were stunned at how this woman, once their grade school friend, once a sweet beautiful soul…now they were looking at a cold woman. Someone they did not know.

"Molly I think you need to take that back. That was very mean." Mina demanded with glistening eyes.

"Mina, I know you don't have much in common with these girls. I mean, with their success and their beautiful families, what do you have? A few independent films and the title of single mom. I would hardly say that your opinion holds gravitas. So please, step aside." This cold woman walked away with the couple behind her. They followed her down the street to the Shield's residents and when they arrived, they were greeted by a polite Darien and Rini Shields.

Yes, it is true that a kiss goodbye is something so special that we learn to appreciate it later in life. There is a time though when the kiss would rather be missed then have to experience one person's bite. It is true that when it is too late, what is lost is prized more than ever. And it is true that when we have such value, we take it for granted because there is no other way to live life as happy. What is questionable though is when we list expect it, the kiss we once cherished may bite harder than we ever expected.

(If you guys have any question at all about what's going on, please feel free to ask them and I will answer. Just keep in mind though that it's only the first episode and it won't be as long as the show. It's a new kind of formula so it's bound to have kinks. Thank you for reading very much and I'm open to any suggestions as well :D)


	2. Chapter 102 Our Evenings

Desperate Princesses – 102

Desperate Princesses – 102

Note from the Author: This story will not follow the storyline of Desperate Housewives as closely as some may think. The most familiar thing I want to do with the "Moon" Characters is put them into the shoes of the characters on Wisteria Lane. Though the stories will have some resemblances from the show like the suicide, there stories are vastly different. Please favorite this story and I promise I'll improve as much as possible and update on a regular schedule :] Thank you everyone.

Last time on Desperate Princesses: The death of a friend brought back some familiar faces to the good old neighborhood. Darien Received a strange phone call. And Rei and Mina found themselves looking at a whole new "Old-Friend" they thought they knew.

Our lives are ruled simply by chance. Death and life. Traffic accidents and citations. Late recitals and early matinees. Those small breaks you take during a morning jog that allow you to narrowly avoid the accident that happened just a moment before you got to the corner. But then there is fate. An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Fate and chance. Was the wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time for a reason? A question many victims ask themselves everyday. No one knew more about the wrong time and wrong place more than Molly Stanton.

The day that Molly Stanton lost her dearest Nephlite, a spark ignited in the girl that no one knew could explode. Something remarkable happened on her twenty first birthday though. She married Maxfield Stanton. She even lost her virginity to him

"Darling." Nephlite held her hand on an Ocean front as she lay on her back in his arms.

"Yes Nephlite?" Molly asked.

"I only have a few minutes left."

"I know…just…just let us spend these last few moments thinking of nothing but how it feels to be together. Please."

"Of course."

"Nephlite…"

"Yes Darling?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." And those would be the last few words that the two would ever say to each other. For a year. In fact, every year, Maxfield Stanton would have reserved enough energy to put his body back together for one whole day. But for those 364 other days that Maxfield was not holding the woman of his dreams, he would be watching her. Who could watch him back? None other than Molly Stanton of course.

It was late in the day. Humid. Lita was making smoothies for her kids who had just finished their homework.

"Mom! Can we turn the sprinklers on?" Chase would ask her. The first born of twin boys.

"No. You're both still grounded from the last time you jumped in the pool. No water sports for you two till winter." Lita commanded.

"But mom!" Mason, the second born of the twins spoke up, "We'll dehydrate and die and then everyone will think you're an irresponsible mother!" Lita shook her head and dumped the icey treats into two cups and lumped them into both their hands.

"You're both lucky you even get to turn on the faucet and use the sink." She turned and continued pouring the smoothies. Just then the phone rang. She grabbed the cordless on the wall and answered, "This is Lita, how may I help you?"

"LITA! It's Mina. What are you doing tonight?"

"Uh- I …putting the kids to-

"Great! I'm coming over at Nine. I'll bring the drinks!" There was a click and Lita just shook her head.

"I hope we're not vandalizing anything."

Molly rang the doorbell and stepped back. When the door opened, Darien looked out. "Hey there."

"Hi Darien. It's nice to see you."

"You too. How is the search going?"

"You know. So so. Everytime someone starts going for the house, they find out from somewhere that Seren….well … you know."

"Oh. I understand." Darien looked down.

"Cheer up Darien. I'm sure all will end well. You and Rini will be out of here in no time. I'm sure of it. And then you can just start all over like you need to." Molly smiled brightly.

"I just don't know." Darien said and her smile got less bright by half. "I keep wondering if it's the right thing to move Rini out so quickly. I know we have to but-

"But what Darien? You want to stay here and let everyone start wondering why you can never look them in the eye? Why you can't seem to get back to yourself?"

"They'll understand. Or they think they will. They'll just assume-

"That you're grieving over Serena forever? And what if her friends start coming around? What then? What are you going to tell Lita and Rei and Mina and their husbands when they find out you-" The two were interrupted suddenly by the distracting yelling of some people behind them. Down the street, a few houses over, Mrs. Haruna was speaking with a humble looking man and woman. "What the? They're not supposed to be here for another half hour. Why is Haruna talking to the- THAT WENCH!" Molly turned and left Darien with a half spoken word in his mouth. She power walked towards Mrs. Haruna. An older woman, about seventy by now, who used to teach Molly and the other girls at Juban Jr. High School. Molly was furious.

When she got half way, Haruna noticed the storming brunette rolling up her sleaves.

"Sorry ladies and gentlemen!" Haruna smiled mischeviously, "I'll have to tell you the rest a bit later! My house for tea after Molly takes care of you!" she waved and ran for her front door. Molly gained on her.

"Haruna! You better be fetching me a mallet so I can beat you!"

"Why would you want to do that for Molly?" Haruna asked trying to run around to an open window.

"You're right! Maybe I should just spray your withered body down with water and make you melt. You're complexion has taken a seventy year beating enough!" As Haruna jumped through the window, trying to pull the rest of her body through, Molly grabbed a water hose and turned the wheel.

"Wait! TRUCE! I'M STUCK!" The old woman said as she wiggled in her khacki pants.

"Stay still hag! I'm not about to start aiming for a moving target!" Molly let loose with the water hose and drenched Haruna from the behind down. "STOP TELLING MY CUSTOMERS ABOUT THAT HOUSES HISTORY! I got it covered hag!" In a few moments, Haruna was able to slide through the window yelling and whirling around. Haruna slammed her window shut and ran away from sight.

Molly would turn to the two customers of her and grin. "Now then. You were here to see a house?"

It took a few minutes for Rei to get ready but she was eventually. Her eyes lit up when she saw Chad walk into the room with nothing on but jock strap. "Chad? I don't think you've ever played a sport in your life…why-

"Awww! I knew it babe! I knew you wouldn't like it!"

Rei laughed, "No no no. I like it. It's just weird to see you in anything pertaining to sports. Unless it's about music, you're totally absorbed in non physical activities. But you look fantastic."

Chad blushed, "Well thank you dear. You don't look so bad yourself." He told Rei as she slipped the covers off slowly revealing lacy lingerie.

"You want to try some new moves out today? I got a book from one of those photographers." Rei ruffled up her hair and laid on her stomach. Chad nodded excitedly. Minutes later they were in a frenzy of bent ligaments and peculiar positions when the door bell rang.

"Who the he-

"Don't worry babe! Just keep flipping!" Chad told her. She nodded and the kept going at it trying to bend their bodies the way they envisioned it in the book. The doorbell rang again.

"Gawd! Just go away!"

"Who me?"

"No not you! You keep doing your part." The doorbell rang one more time. "Geezus!"

"Oh is that good!?"

"Pay attention Chad!"

"I am. Oh wait…I think I got it!" He pulled his arm over her leg and her other leg over his body and suddenly they stopped to see themselves.

"We did it Chad! I think this is the way the book-

"Hey Rei. Your door was open and I –

"MINA DON'T COME I-

At that moment Mina pushed the door open just a bit and yelped. "OH MY GAWD!" Mina screamed and ran down the stairs in a burst of energy and kicked up dust. "HOLY CRAP I'LL COME BACK LATER!"

Rei and Chad became flustered and Rei un-pieced herself from the position they were both in, jumping up and running after Mina in a fit. "GET BACK HERE!"

"NO IT'S OKAY!" Mina giggled nervously knowing she was about to get punished.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Rei screamed jumping down the last step and pressing a button on the wall. A female voice sounded through out the house.

"Alarm activated. Locking front door."

"OH NO!" Mina said. "Window!" She ran for the window and tried to climb out. Rei grabbed her in time to pull her back through. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Fine! I'll induce a coma! What's wrong with you!? Why would you just burst in like that?!" Rei shouted.

"I! You…Lita and I! Tonight! It's…you…crap."

"Crap is right missy." Rei crossed her arms and threw Mina on the couch. "Who would in their right mind EVER just walk into –" Rei stopped suddenly looking at Mina smiling knowing she was in trouble and raising her hand just a bit. "Nevermind. If you tell anyone you saw us this way…I'll place you in a body wrap you thought only a noodle could accomplish. So what is it you wanted to know about tonight?"

"Heh heh…we were going to invite ourselves over to Molly's new house to play some cards. You weren't answering your phone so … well you know."

Rei shook her head. "What time?"

"About seven. When it gets dark."

"Fine. Now get out please." Mina hurried to the door.

"Certainly. See you then!" Mina waved as the door slammed in her face.

Mina turned to the street and took a deep breath. She exhaled just slightly. When she opened her eyes and panned around, she would see Rini jumping out of her bedroom window. She watched the pink haired girl slowly get up and brush herself off. When Rini stood up straight she would make eye contact with Mina suddenly. The girl paused and Mina crossed her arms waiting to see what Rini was going to do next. After a moment of staring, Rini finally turned back around and climbed into her window.

When the sun began to set and the doors began to close on Wisteria lane, the girls of the drive left their husbands and their families to tend to a game of poker. Mina met Rei on the way to Molly's house holding the cards and chips. Rei saw Lita run across the street to stand next to them holding a bottle of wine and some of her home made cake. Rei carried a glass bottle of old fashioned milk. As the ladies arrived at the front door they looked each other in the eye. A sign that they were here and together at this moment for a reason. Before Mina could clumsily reach for the door bell though, she heard talking.

"NO! I don't want to wait another year and a half to see you again! But I don't want you to make this kind of decision! You can't ask me to either! If you want to ask me than maybe you should just go away for good!" It sounded like Molly's voice.

"Who do you think she's talking to?" Rei asked the other girls.

"I'm not sure." Lita said. "Maybe we should come back.

"No! Now is the time women! We are the future! We are her future! We need to bring the old Molly back." Mina proclaimed as she reached for the doorbell again. She was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.

"I don't want to live like this! To see you once a year and to wait forever and a year! A WHOLE YEAR WITHOUT BEING IN YOUR ARMS! I can't take it!" There was another burst of glass shattering and the girls stepped back.

"Maybe you guys are right…" Mina and the others began to take a step back when the front door opened and Molly was about to run out. She stopped, tissue in hand, pressed against a wet face.

"What are you guys doin' here?" She asked trying to hide her smudged make up. "Did you hear any of that?"

"No of course not!"

"Nah!"

"You mean the glass breaking?"

"MINA!!!!" Rei and Lita shouted.

"Of course not!" Mina laughed.

"Well good. Cause it's none of your business!" Molly shouted and she stepped back into her house. Before she could close the door Lita slammed her foot in the opening and stopped the seal.

"Molly…" She opened the door to Lita and exhaled annoyed. "Molly we've known each other since we were teenagers. We're forty years old now. You're intensely mean and horribly unhappy from the looks of it. . . we just want to come in and welcome you to the neighborhood. If you don't want to tell us what's bothering you or even who's inside, if they still are…then we'll understand. But at least let us come in and cheer you up with my delicious cake and we'll get drunk while we're at it. What do you say Molly? We're just a couple of hot gals palying poker on a Friday night?" There was a pause. A long pause. A silence that killed Mina and Rei and let Molly think about her options.

"Tomorrow." Molly said. "Tomorrow night at the same time. If you guys aren't busy I'd like you to come back tomorrow."

"Bu-" Mina began but Lita interjected.

"Of course. We'll be over at the same exact time. And we'll just play poker."

"Okay. I'd like that." Molly said. The other girls nodded. They left and let Molly close the door.

"Lets go to my house." Rei told them. "This way Mina won't walk in on anything she's not supposed to see. At least till she leaves." Mina almost fainted. They dragged the cards and the treats back to Rei's place where they would call it a good night.

Yes. In every life, fate and chance play a vital philosophical role. When we park the car, we do not expect someone's pet to run out into the middle of the street. When we go over the speed limit just that once, we never expect the police man to be hidden in that grove after all that time we've behaved so well. And the wrong time and place…no one knew this more than Molly Stanton. No one asked herself more times a day would she still have the one she loved if she had just done something a bit differently.

"I see you've made your choice." Molly said as his warm hands wrapped around her shoulders.

"I have. I want to be with you like this. Once a year till you pass away could never satiate my need to touch you. Don't you want to feel my hand on yours? Not just see it?"

"I do … but if you do this…and you don't know when it is you will die…what am I supposed to do when I can't see you anymore?" Molly cried.

"Then you will move on Molly like normal people do. You won't have to watch me in a mirror for 364 days out of the year and only be able to hold me once. I love you Molly and this is the best way."

"I love you too...Maxfield."


End file.
